The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

ii8 CLASSIFICATION

OF SHRINES

the Maha-NirvanaTantra, aftergiving elaborate rules forthe

consecrationandworship

ofimages,addsthewarning

:

"

Those

who(intheirignorance)believe

thatIshwarais(only)in

images

ofclay,orstone, or metal, orwood,

merelytroublethemselves

bytheirtapas. Theycanneverattainliberationwithoutknow-

ledge.... Yoga is the union ofthe embodied soulwiththe

Supreme Soul; Pdji is the union ofthe worshipper and the

worshipped

;

buthe whorealises that all thingsare Brahman,

forhimthereis neitherYoga norPtlja."

^

The traditions of the Silpa-sdstras, which

classify the

structureofviminas,orshrines,bythetypeofimage

contained

bythem, nodoubtgobackto this time. The Manasira

says

that theyareofthreekinds. Thefirst, calledsfhdnaka^

con-

tainsanimagestandingerect;thesecond,calleddsana,

contains

aseated image

;

andthethird,calledsdyana,arecumbent

one.^

The st'hinakatypewould containan image

ofVishnuas

thePillarofthe Universe,orofthe Buddhainasimilar

aspect

astheTeacheroftheLaw. Theroofofitwould

bethesikhara.

The asanatypewouldbe represented byan

image of Buddha

or of

Siva

in aYoga

attitude, or seatedon a throne

—the roof

of

the

cell

being

flat

ordomical,oracombination

oftheterraced

roofanddome. Arjtina's

RathatMamallapuram

(PI. XXVI)

isan illustration

ofit.

Bhlma's Rathat

the sameplace(PI. XXIV)

isamonastic

templeofthesayanatype

: itisoblongin planand

coveredby

avaultedroofwithpointedarch

orlotus-leafgables.

Thiswas

designed for a recumbent image,

such as that

of Vishnu-

Nirayana reposing in the cosmic

serpent Ananta,

or the

analogous
imageofthe Buddhain
thesleep of
Pari-Nirvana.

The Teli-ka Mandir, or Oilman's

temple,

at Gwalior

^

TranslatedbyArthur

Avalon,

pp.348-9.

^

Standingfirm,

likethetrunkofatree.

^

MmRaz,

p.

49.